There are some amazing study results recently that show your mind effects whether or not you lose weight.

A new set of research these days is showing that the answer to our weight loss management is how we think about food and not just we eat. The brain, according to these studies tries to learn the differences between the healthy and the artificial foods. This is a good way for fitness experts to help their clients in understanding their relationship with the things that they digest.

What we believe and think we are eating has a significant effect to our body’s response to the stuff that we actually eat. In addition there are also evidences according to these studies that there are certain foods that may actually stimulate addictive responses to our brain.

“You are what you eat” – what if that’s true?

However, the sad news is that there are still experts who believe in the simplistic approach in considering weight loss management. An example of this would be the energy-balance equation (calories in vs. calories out).

You Are What You Eat

There’s a tinge of truth in the saying “we are what we eat” when we look at it from what the cells of our bodies are constructed from. However, when it comes to our body’s reaction, its processes and how it uses the foods that we consume, research suggests we are actually, what we “think” we eat.

There’s a research team in Yale University who did some experiments to prove this as an example. They fed 46 participants with milkshake with exact the same amount of calories (360). The difference is that they labeled it with either indulgent with 620 calories or health conscious containing 140 calories. The participants consumed each milkshake one week apart.

The researchers then measured the subject’s ghrelin response after every time a milkshake is consumed. Ghrelin is a hormone which makes us feel hungry or gives the signal when it’s time to eat. Its opposite is leptin which gives the opposite effect, to stop eating or we are already full. The result was quite astounding.

The ghrelin response of the study participants had significant differences. Remember they only consumed the same kind of shake and only the labels were made different. The change in the label actually alters the perception of a participant on each shake.

When a certain participant consumes the indulgent shake, the ghrelin levels show a sudden decrease as compared to the health conscious label.

Thinking that they had taken a lot, it made them to feel a lot satisfied for a longer period of time. These amazing results only imply that the psychological state of awareness while eating may actually reduce the effects of ghrelin. This study is titled Mind over milkshakes: Mindsets, not just nutrients, determine ghrelin response conducted by Crum, Alia J. et al.

This is an important application in reality. Grocery stores have a lot of products labeled with seemingly real health claims. Some of these are actually misleading and some are completely untrue. The mixture of unhealthy nutrients and “healthy” proclamations can become extremely dangerous.

Not only is the product unhealthy, moreover, the mindset of the consumer may lead to a poor suppression of ghrelin despite of the actual makeup content. To put it simply, if a person believes he had eaten something healthy, they might become hungry again sooner. This is regardless if the food is actually health or not.

Truly, the mind is an amazing portion of our being human. However, there’s a need for us to really be careful because if we are not aware that we are being deceived, we might end up on the wrong place. Weight loss management not only requires physical efforts but psychological mindset as well. If you want to be fit and healthy, it’s a combination you should always learn to harmonize.

This article is based on the report of the American Council of Exercise. It’s aimed to promote health and fitness through facts and realities and not just plain theories.

About The Author:The author from http://www.fitness-baron.com is a health and fitness enthusiast. He wants to share his knowledge and expertise to others without any payment as he deemed it necessary to promote the right kind of living.

Tom Corson-Knowles and this website do not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
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